1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more especially to an electrical connector which can be not only connected with a socket assembly (for example, a standard USB socket connector), but also securely connected with a plug assembly (for example, a memory card), and method of inserting the electrical connector.
2. Description of Related Art
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an electrical connector which can transmit high-speed signals. At present, USB is widely used to connect all kinds of electronic hosts and external devices. With the popularity of USB connectors, various electrical connectors are designed to have expansion functions and simultaneously transmit standard USB interface electrical signals and other additional electrical signals (for example, memory card electrical signals) based on original USB standard.
A standard USB connector 100 (please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2) generally includes an insulating body 110. The insulating body 110 has a base portion 111 which extends forwards to form a tongue plate 112. A plurality of terminal passages 113 extend through the base portion 111 along a butting direction to a surface of the tongue plate 112. A plurality of conductive terminals 120 is respectively correspondingly disposed in the terminal passages 113. Each conductive terminal 120 has a contacting portion 123, a tail portion 122 and a fixing portion 121 connecting the contacting portion 123 with the tail portion 122.
A conventional memory card 4 (please refer to FIG. 3), such as Micard, generally has an inserting end (front end) 41 and an opposite end (rear end) 42, a first insulating surface (front face) 43 and a second insulating surface (back face) 44. The first insulating surface 43 has a first interface 45 near the inserting end 41, and the first interface 45 may be a USB interface and have a plurality of first contacting points 450 arranged in rows. Furthermore, the first insulating surface 43 may also have a second interface 46 adjacent to the first interface 45, and the second interface 46 has a plurality of second contacting points 460 arranged in rows. The first insulating surface 43 may further have a third interface 47 near the opposite end 42, and the third interface 47 has a plurality of third contacting points 470 arranged in rows. Of course, the first insulating surface 43 may also have other types of interfaces formed thereon. Generally, there is no interface on the second insulating surface 44. The second insulating surface 44 has two concave portions 440 respectively concavely formed two side edges thereof. One step surface is formed between each concave portion 440 and the insulating surface 44.
Before memory card electrical connectors (please refer to FIG. 2) come out, the memory card 4 is directly inserted into the conventional USB connector 100 so that each first contacting points 450 of the first interface 45 of the memory card 4 is electrically connected with the contacting portion 123 of each conductive terminal 120 to form an electrical connection. However, because the memory card 4 is too long and the protruding portion of the memory card 4 which extends out of the connector 100 is too long, so the memory card 4 is easy to swing and touch other objects so that the memory card 4 and the USB connector 100 are damaged.
For solving the problem described above, an improved electrical connector 200 (please refer to FIG. 4) comes out. Basing on the conventional USB connector 100, the length of the base portion 111 of the electrical connector 200 is increased and a slot 114 is concavely formed in the surface of the base portion 111 which extends to form the tongue plate 112. The bottom of the slot 114 and the side of the tongue plate 112 on which the terminal passages 113 are extended generally lie in the same plane. Each conductive terminal 120 has a front contacting portion 123 and a rear contacting portion 124 respectively received in the portion of a corresponding terminal passage 113 located on the tongue plate 112 and the portion of the corresponding terminal passage located on the bottom of the slot 114. The improved electrical connector 200 can contact with the contacting points of the memory card 4 to form the electrical connection when the memory card 4 is inserted into the electrical connector 200 deeply. At this time, the protruding portion of the memory card 4 which extends out of the electrical connector 200 is very short, so the swing of the memory card 4 can be avoided, and even if there is a little swing, the memory card 4 isn't easy to touch other objects. However, when the memory card 4 is inserted into the electrical connector 200, each first contacting point 450 of the first interface 45 firstly correspondingly contacts with the front contacting portion 123 of each conductive terminal 120. Till the memory card 4 is inserted to its position, each first contacting point 450 of the first interface 45 securely contacts with the rear contacting portion 124 of each conductive terminal 120. So there firstly occurs short conduction, then short non-conduction, and finally stable electrical connection between the memory card 4 and the electrical connector during the inserting of the memory card 4, which is easy to cause that the system and the memory card are damaged. Furthermore, there may be more than one interface on the surface of the memory card 4, so after the memory card 4 is inserted to its position, the front contacting portion 123 of the conductive terminal 120 may contact with contacting points of other interfaces on the surface of the memory card 4 (such as the second contacting point 460 of the second interface 46). However, because the interfaces of the memory card 4 operate at different voltages and transmit different signals after being electrically connected, the contact of the front contacting portion 123 of the conductive terminal 120 and contacting points of other interfaces on the surface of the memory card 4 will cause that non-specific conduction occurs and signals are transmitted in disorder, thereby damaging the system and the memory card.
Hence, there is a need for a new electrical connection and inserting method thereof to solve the problems described above.